Page 10 of King of Hearts

“It only takes half an hour to get to your school from here.” She shook her head, tapping away on her phone. My mother’s blonde hair was styled to perfection as well as her makeup, and somehow, she was already wearing Chanel.

I tried to remember back to when I was younger, back when she wore Walmart brands and we ate at fast food joints, but only if we had a coupon. It was what had endeared my stepfather, Charlie, to her. He had been poor once too, but right around the time we made a break for it to get away from my father, Charlie became a self-made millionaire. She met him on accident while trying to con another man out of money, and she said their story was one for the ages. As quick as it happened, it was something I had no doubt would last forever.

Here she was, almost seven years later, and they were madly in love. He was a widow, and I had instantly wanted to become just like his daughter Mallory because of how untainted she was. You could tell she’d never had to use a gun in order to learn lessons as a child, had never stumbled upon dead bodies. She wasn’t being stalked and watched methodically by a sociopath that shared her DNA.

She was bright and all things good, and I was a moth drawn to her.

“It’s forty-five minutes without traffic. I go to school on weekdays, Mom…that means I would have to hustle out of the mansion by seven in the morning and sit in traffic. I don’t want to do that every day, especially pregnant.”

Her eyes finally flicked away from her screen and darted toward my protruding stomach.

Today I wore a halter maxi dress with sandals. It essentially swallowed my whole body, except my bump. My mother never really spoke about the baby…she wasn’t naturally maternal, even on a regular basis. She was protective, but not maternal. I struggled with her most of the time, especially with the way she treated Mallory. She was always comparing the two of us, and I knew it was because she saw in Mallory what I did…that she was good, and I was not. A tiny lamb tossed in with a wolf pup, and everyone trying to convince us that we were the same. My mother spent too much time trying to play it off to everyone that I had wool instead of fangs…I didn’t understand why she bothered.

“Don’t you think you should hide that a bit more?”

My throat grew tight as her tone chafed along my soul. My hand went to my stomach on instinct, as though I could protect my baby from its grandmother’s brash words.

“No…why would I need to hide it?” I played dumb, though I remembered her words the day I told her I was pregnant.

I’d explained to her and Charlie at the same time, and while my stepfather rushed to hug me and tell me how happy he was, my mother stayed still as stone, her lips thinned, her eyes narrowed into angry slits.

Later that night, she pulled me aside and slapped me across the face.

“You know he’s coming for you. It was the only requirement when we made the deal to be let out of summer visits. Twenty-one and you’re his…what do you think he’ll do with your baby? Why would you bring a child into that world, Taylor? You know better than this…”

I sobbed silent tears and even went to a clinic that next day…but I was already in love with my baby, and I didn’t know how to reconcile that with what she’d said. Somehow, I thought I could figure out a way to get free of the monster I knew as Father.

“So, what then…you said you’ve looked everywhere. What are you going to do?” She finally lowered her cell entirely and watched me with reserved frustration.

I understood it. I had put off living on my own for so long that now it wasn’t even an option. The housing market had imploded, and nearly every available house, apartment, and condo was gone. There was nothing left. Charlie had sold the townhouse complex Mallory and I had shared the year before, as well as the units on either side that had been occupied by his security teams. He had offered to keep a unit available for me, just in case, but I had told him to sell it. I couldn’t live in that big of a space on my own.

Now I felt senseless saying that, or even suggesting that I had options. I was naïve and too inexperienced to know that something trivial like the housing market would end up screwing me over.

“I’ll figure something out, Mom.” Maybe I could look into living in a tent. I could tuck away on the football field while the weather stayed warm, which in North Carolina would be a decent while.

The drive back to school was filled with traffic. It was as though a few thousand extra people had moved to Rake Forge over the summer, and now our roads were entirely overwhelmed. I was probably being dramatic as I had never had to make the drive from my parents’ house so frequently, and usually not on weekdays.

I listened to a podcast about being pregnant, missing my history stations, but now that I was getting so close and I literally knew nothing about bringing a child into the world, I decided to sacrifice my pleasures and beef up my knowledge on becoming a mother.

It was right when the commenter began talking about ligament pain that I saw a familiar-looking sports car.

Juan’s two-seater, red Mustang was parked where my Beamer had sat the previous day. I gripped my steering wheel aggressively as I searched for a different spot. I had been parking in that spot for days now, and it seemed oddly timed that the idiot now had it.

With a huff of frustration, I finally snagged a space in the overflow lot. I pulled my book bag free, along with my water bottle and cell phone. Right as I shut and locked my doors, my phone rang.

Smiling, I pulled the phone to my ear. “Hey sis.”

“Are you ready for your first class?” Mallory asked happily—too happily for not even eight in the morning. Why was she even up so early?

“Do you ever sleep in?” I shuffled my bag to the side and grabbed the handrail, trekking up the concrete steps.

“I’m married to a horny twenty-two-year-old who wakes me up in filthy ways every morning.” She laughed, sounding like she’d taken a bite of something and was now chewing.

“And there’s that little bit about you being a CEO now…” I laughed along with her.

“Oh yeah, and that bit.” She acted like it was nothing, but I knew it had been difficult for my stepsister to take over the New York branch for Charlie. I was silly enough to think it could have been me who did it, like if I somehow had a purpose and something to do then my murderous father wouldn’t come knocking on my door. That or he’d see me as more valuable than just a piece of property to marry off.

My swift walk carried me past the nose of Juan’s sports car, forcing an inferno of frustration to bubble up to the point that I couldn’t hold back.

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